Case Study
Long Beach First Baptist Church

Worshippers at a Nearly Century-Old Church Rebuild using Armstrong Commercial Tile

Faith can withstand many tests, but the beachfront buildings in which the members of the First Baptist Church of Long Beach, Miss. worshiped could not withstand a direct hit from one of the costliest and deadliest natural disasters in the history of the United States, Hurricane Katrina. First Baptist had been located in downtown Long Beach since 1909. Through the years, educational buildings, an office complex, a preschool and a sanctuary were constructed to meet the needs of the membership before the hurricane completely destroyed all five of the church’s facilities in 2005. Post-disaster, church members voted to move to a new site further inland. When it came time to choose the interior finishes, the building committee made it very clear they wanted the materials to be safe and durable and the colors to be vibrant and cheerful. “Armstrong Standard EXCELON Imperial Texture VCT and Imperial Texture Rave® were excellent flooring solutions because the tiles are economical, easy to maintain, and the color selections made it possible for us to design unique, playful floor patterns the building owners love,” says Jane Brakefield, Senior Interior Designer for CTSM Architects Inc., Birmingham, Ala.

Rebuilding Faith and Facilities

The master plan for rebuilding the church’s facilities took the membership’s current and future needs into account. The building committee’s materials wish list touched on many bases. For aesthetics, they insisted on a cheerful and playful color palette for creating an inviting atmosphere in an indoor environment. To meet budget, materials must be cost effective. For performance, everything needed to be durable and safe, with easy maintenance characteristics.

CTSM Architects, Inc. was chosen to design the new complex because the firm had already designed 150 buildings for 70 churches throughout the deep south. History and a high confidence factor aside, this design project had unique challenges. “We needed to create a fun and exciting interior environment that was distinctive in design using only cost effective interior finishes. VCT immediately came to mind, and we specified Armstrong because of the color palette, especially the vibrant Rave colors,” says Brakefield.

The new complex includes multi-functional spaces for worship, sports and recreation, a fellowship hall, a gathering/pre-function space with a cafe and a commercial kitchen. The members place strong emphasis on education, so the new, state-of-the-art daycare center, preschool and children’s education building includes classrooms, an indoor playroom that doubles as a children’s theater, and support and resource rooms. All the new buildings are fully accessible and double as storm shelters for the entire community.

Playful, Wayfinding Design

The design team created patterns on the preschool floor that are age-appropriate in both visual and functional ways. “The main corridor includes colorful, random-sized circles and accent colors at classroom entrances to create a playful environment suitable for preschool age children and we used accent colors to create wayfinders into the classroom. The same accent colors are introduced in each of the floor patterns inside the classrooms, but in lieu of custom-cut circles, we used full-size tiles to create a very cost-effective pattern,” explains Brakefield.

For the older children’s spaces, the building committee requested bright colors but less intense than those used in the preschool areas. Here, designers created a floor pattern distinguished by colorful geometric shapes that have a contemporary twist. “It’s a bit more ‘grown up’ than the preschool areas yet still fun and playful,” says Brakefield.

It Takes a Partnership

One of the reasons why this large flooring project—26,000 square feet of VCT, plus other flooring materials — is a success is because everybody on the team fully cooperated with each other. Brakefield sent schematic designs of her floor patterns to the contractor, Edward Covington of Covington Flooring, Birmingham, Ala. Covington confirmed the project required a full truck load of VCT, which gave CTSM the freedom to use ten different colors in the overall design and still be cost-effective. Brakefield also conferred with Covington before presenting her ideas to the building committee to confirm the contractor could install the various sized circles within budget. “Once Covington gave us the ‘thumbs up,’ we were able to finish our concepts and get the building committee’s approval. The partnership between the designer, the manufacturer, the distributor, the installer and the client contributed to a finished result we can all be proud of,” says Brakefield. Covington echoes Brakefield’s thoughts, commenting, “Armstrong was the interior designer’s choice, but Armstrong’s quality makes our job easier and based on our relationship with the manufacturer and the local distributor, Armstrong is our first choice for resilient flooring installations.”

The Brookwood Baptist Church project was completed in the summer of 2009; the interior portions fast tracked for completion prior to the beginning of the school year. “The Director of the preschool program, Diane Duke, said that many of the parents cried with joy when they first saw the renovated facility. The children love it too,” says Timothy. The children are now learning in a fun, safe environment, continuing the church’s mission to grow in knowledge as well as faith.

150 Years of Satisfied Customers

Brakefield’s and Covington’s opinion of Armstrong is not unique. Armstrong has been manufacturing trusted flooring solutions for 150 years. Standard EXCELON VCT was one of the company’s first commercial floor products and the venerable tile is still the flooring industry leader for quality and value. The Standard EXCELON VCT family includes four mix-and-match, color-coordinated product lines, including: Imperial Texture Classics, with tone-on-tone visuals in neutral colors; Imperial Texture, with the broadest selection of colors available that coordinate with the full portfolio of Armstrong floors; Imperial Texture Rave®, featuring bold, inspiring colors with eye-popping intensity; and Standard Excelon MultiColor VCT, each tile featuring four base and three accent colors that coordinate with Imperial Texture.